Senators-Penguins Preview

Associated Press

Even outside North America, the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to find a way to beat the Ottawa Senators.

The Penguins try for a sixth consecutive overall victory over the Senators when the clubs conclude their two-game opening series Sunday in Stockholm, Sweden.

In one of the two NHL regular season games played in Europe on Saturday, Pittsburgh opened play with a 4-3 overtime victory over Ottawa. The Penguins swept the Senators during the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last season.

The New York Rangers beat Tampa Bay 2-1 in another Saturday contest played in the Czech Republic. Those same teams will also play again Sunday before the rest of the league hits the ice starting Thursday.

A crowd of 13,699 at soldout Globe Arena in Stockholm saw Tyler Kennedy convert a Jason Spezza turnover into a breakaway game winner with 25 seconds left in overtime for the Penguins, the reigning Eastern Conference champs who lost in six games to Detroit in last season's Stanley Cup finals.

"I'm just excited to help the team win and get the season on a roll here," said Kennedy, who had two goals while starting at right wing in place of the injured Petr Sykora (groin) on the Penguins' line that also features Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal.

Kennedy, who scored 10 goals last season as a rookie, has four in five career regular-season games versus Ottawa.

"I think I worked hard in the summer and drew confidence out of that," said Kennedy, who scored 40 seconds into the contest. "So I came into the season with confidence."

Malkin, fourth in the NHL with 47 goals last season, also scored while Sidney Crosby added an assist for Pittsburgh, which went 1-2-1 against the Senators in 2007-08.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves to improve to 3-4-0 in eight regular season starts against Ottawa.

Spezza had a goal and an assist, while Dany Heatley added a goal and Martin Gerber stopped 26 shots for the Senators. Spezza, the team's leading scorer with 92 points last season, has six goals and six assists in his last six regular-season contests against Pittsburgh.

Gerber, meanwhile, suffered his first regular season loss in regulation in six games against the Penguins.

Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson, one of the NHL's most prominent Swedish players, and the holder of the Senators' career marks in (854), goals (331), assists (516) and points (847), was held pointless Saturday for the first time in 11 regular-season games versus Pittsburgh.

"(The Penguins) play good defensively and have good individual players," said Alfredsson, who took six shots and was a minus-3 in his first contest with an NHL team in his native land. "We have a lot of respect for them."

After this contest, both clubs don't return to action until opening play on their home ice next Saturday. Pittsburgh meets New Jersey, while Ottawa faces the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings.